Colleen Wessel-McCoy is Theologian in Residence at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Brooklyn, New York.
Advent-er
A Sermon on the Third Sunday of Advent
December 15, 2019
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:5-10
Luke 1:46b-55
James 5:7-10
My kids love chocolate Advent calendars. Do you know the ones? Every day starting December 1 you open a perforated paper door and pull out a little chocolate. From an early age my son Myles has called it an advent-er calendar instead of an advent calendar. And I have to admit I kept it going by not correcting him. It was too cute.
Recently a non-Christian friend asked me what advent means. I said something like “waiting for Christmas,” and described the pink and purple advent wreath. I also managed to mention the secular definition of something coming into being or starting.
I didn’t have a chance to mention Myles’ alternative tense of advent with the -er at the end. But I do like it. Advent-er. It becomes a noun that describes a person who does something. An advent-er is someone who advents. Advent then sounds like a verb. I advent. Do you? How are you adventing this year? What are you adventing?
I am appreciating adventing with you this morning. And I very much love the scriptures that are helping us advent today. There’s a thread that weaves across them:
[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#245371″ text=”#ffffff” align=”left” size=”1″ quote=”The glory of God, God’s salvation, is very material. It’s very real. We witness it in the world and among God’s people.” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]
Isaiah 35 testifies to it. It is a text anticipating the return to life of a people oppressed by the Assyrian Empire. The earth and the people are restored. The dry land blooms and has pools of water. People are healed and move freely. They are safe from predators.
The Psalms testify to it. Happy are those “who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”
Luke testifies to it. “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
Matthew offers this witness. “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
In each of these there is a strong relationship between the land to the people. When the land is well people are well. People are healed. People are fed. People are safe. People travel freely and are not held captive by empire. This is God’s glory and salvation.
James 5 is one of my favorites. This section on patience is interesting. He says over and over to be patient. “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. “
But the people he describes being patient are very active. Patience here is not passive. Yes, farmers are patient, but they also work really hard to get their crops ready to wait patiently for rain. They till and plant and weed. So waiting for rain is only part of farmers patience.
James also says, “Beloved, do not grumble against one another.” Well, yeah, that’s a kind of patience. But in my experience it takes a lot of work to have that kind of patience with each other.
And then he says, “As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” Okay, I’ve read the prophets, and patient is not what I would have come up with to describe them. Mad, indignant, visionary. I can imagine that the powerful against whom the prophets railed certainly wouldn’t describe them as patient.
So the patience of James is not passive. When he tells us to be patient, he is saying time is short. That itself is a bit of a contradiction on first take. But there is an active role we play in the anticipation of the coming of the Lord and the advent of the Kingdom of God. One might say we are advent-ers in that process. We till the soil, plant seeds, weed the weeds that might choke the growth of the precious crop. We care for one another and build community, not grumbling against one another. And we proclaim God’s justice, even if that means suffering. James says we are to speak in the name of the Lord like the prophets, condemning inequality, the abuse of the powerless, insisting that social injustice is disobedience to God and the forsaking of God’s law.
There is an optimism in the prophets and its rooted in faith in the power of God. There can be social justice. We can organize society in a way that cares for children, where women are safe, where migrants find welcome, where illnesses are healed and people have access to healthcare. But when God’s laws are followed not only are the hungry fed but the rich are sent away hungry.
[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#245371″ text=”#ffffff” align=”left” size=”1″ quote=”Our patience is one of struggling alongside God, of joining God in God’s struggle. Advent is not passive waiting. It’s active anticipation. We are called to be advent-ers. To till the soil and plant seeds of justice, to cut down that which chokes it.” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]
In Isaiah 35 I read physical healing in the restoring of sight and voice, but I also read the ways in which God helps us to see what we had not seen before, to listen to what we had turned away from, and to give voice to injustice when we were silent.
It reminded me of poor families in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who have formed a Healthcare Rights Committee with Put People First! – Pennsylvania. Not only are they taking action to prevent the closure of their hospital, expand Medicaid’s coverage, and make universal health care a reality, but now they are fighting water service shut offs in more than two thousand households for not having updated water meters. But as Isaiah says, from the thirsty ground are springs of water. People are not saved apart from the things we need to survive, and our survival is intimately connected to the earth’s flourishing.
The world is in desperate need of our active anticipation. Of the revolutionary patience it requires. As we move closer to Christmas we also count down to the longest night of the year, December 21, called to our attention by those who are homeless for that long night. We are well into winter, where many struggle to afford heat. We are in the season of giving that is a season of heartbreak for so many. Healthcare’s exorbitant cost means many of us go without services and medicines. Because wages haven’t kept pace with economic growth over the last forty five years, our debt has grown or forced us to take multiple jobs, drawing us away from our families and leaving us impatient and exhausted when we are with them. Housing costs have grown exponentially, with no county in the US having two-bedroom apartments that are affordable to minimum wage earners.
Across the country families are hungry, despite the fact that we grow enough food to feed everyone. But instead we cut people’s food stamps. The crisis of homelessness grows, despite the reality that there are enough empty houses and apartments for everyone. We are witnessing the effects of climate instability, with stronger storms, drought where the should be rain, floods where it should be dry. And we are pouring trillions of dollars into a war economy — not into the hands of soldiers — but into the hands of private defense contractors and the pockets of investors of defense industry corporations. While soldiers families are facing cuts to their food stamps. And because we bought those weapons of mass destruction we’re using them, sending economically drafted soldiers to kill poor people around the world.
In 2020 we will be waiting for an election. And we will not be waiting passively. We will do so with the patience of James and the prophets. We will be advent-ers, taking part in making something happen. If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to join the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. We are a direct action movement and we are building power among the poor in this country. And in June 2020 we are holding a Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington with hundreds of thousands of people to demand justice for all.
And every month until then there will be events, classes, and actions here in New York in anticipation of our coming together from across the country in June and then going to the polls in November.
Our patience is one of struggling alongside God, of joining God in God’s struggle. God opens our eyes, unstops our ears, and gives voice to our voicelessness. Advent is not passive waiting. It’s active anticipation. We are called to be advent-ers. To till the soil and plant seeds of justice, to cut down that which chokes it. “Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
To learn more about Put People First!-PA you can visit their website at www.putpeoplefirstpa.org.